When it comes to making Marines, no one does it better than the basic training drill instructors at Parris Island, South Carolina and San Diego, California. But when it came down to making men, Vietnam ranked at the top of the list. An 18 year old teenager who found himself in combat, became a man before he could buy a squirrel rifle or a beer back home. Here is the story of some of those young men, Dawson and Rooker, as well as Swan, Taggart, Sweet Georgia, Gunny Huggins, Rabi and Putt-Pu...

Throughout our marriage of 50 plus years, one thing that we have consistently agreed upon is the inclusion of animals in our lives. The remembrances in this book recall stories of some of the dogs, cats, horses and other animals that have shared their time and space with our family. Often relationships with these amazing animals brought us joy, at times they brought a bit of sadness but always we were enriched in some way. The many lessons we learned helped us to care for future animals an...

Spring in coastal Normandy along the French beaches was a magical timeunless it was 1944. There were no gleeful noises of vacationers along the Normandy beaches that spring. Hitler had invaded France several years earlier and the French people were then under the tyrannical influence of German troops, who had taken up residence in the nearby towns and villages around Normandy, building gun turrets and fortifications to bolster the coastal region defenses facing the English Channel. Magic t...

Dawn, June 6, 1944. Off the Normandy coast 6,500 ships carry 150,000 Allied troops. This is D-Day, the long-awaited Allied invasion of German-occupied Europe. The Allies will storm five beaches. One is code-named Juno Beach. Here, 14,500 Canadians will land on a five-mile stretch of sand backed by three resort towns. The beach is heavily protected by a seawall, barbed wire, underwater obstacles and hundreds of mines. Behind these defenses a heavily armed German force waits inside thick con...

This inspiring collection of stories tells of the hope and healing that come from contact between horses and people. Whether giving disabled riders a sense of freedom and mobility, healing wounds of childhood abuse, assisting with work, or simply riding trails with their human companions, horses bond with people in ways that change us for the better. The stories, contributed by people from all over the country and from all walks of life, introduce: Cholla, the horse who paints pictures; a ...

People love their pets--cats more so than any other (or so the cats would like to think). And if there is anything cat-lovers enjoy almost as much as stroking their beloved feline friends, it's reading about cats. In the tradition and style of her previous smash hits, Callie Smith Grant brings readers a brand-new collection of uplifting stories about the amazing creatures that warm our hearts--and our laps! With stories from Melody Carlson, Jill Eileen Smith, Robert Benson, Kathi ...

In ships and planes, they crossed the English Channel.On the other side Hitler’s army waited.And the longest day was about to begin....In the spring of 1944, 120,000 Allied soldiers crossed the English Channel in the most ambitious invasion force ever assembled. Rangers, paratroopers, infantry, and armored personnel, these soldiers--some who had just cut their teeth in Africa and Sicily and some who were brand-new to war--joined a force aimed at the h...

A Broken SealEx-Navy SEAL Wiley James is lucky to be alive, but the war destroyed his health, his confidence and his livelihood. Now, back at his family’s Montana ranch, Wiley struggles to find new purpose. Instead he finds an old childhood pal—little Macy Shelton, who has grown into a beautiful woman. Wiley knows he should steer clear of the cheery single mom…if only she’d let him.Macy doesn’t recognize this new Wiley. A bitter stranger has replaced the yo...

Married to an uncaring, workaholic husband, Shylia Allred walks to alleviate stress and to consider her divorce. Typical of many abused spouses, she dreams of escape but always comes up with a reason to thwart her own plans. Then, as she's walking past the local parish hall just as an AA meeting is letting out, she literally bumps into Randall Sly. As they get to know each other, she comes to trust him completely. He's the one man who can bring a huge change to her life. But change isn't a...

A new collection of stories set in the West from "one of the most gifted and versatile of contemporary writers" (NPR)Percival Everett's long-awaited new collection of stories, his first since 2004's Damned If I Do, finds him traversing the West with characteristic restlessness. A deaf Native American girl wanders off into the desert and is found untouched in a den of rattlesnakes. A young boy copes with the death of his sister by angling for an unnaturally...

Ever wondered what it would be like to fly a biplane or triplane in the First World War? Raymond Collishaw and the Black Flight takes you to the Western Front during the Great War. Experience the risks of combat and the many close calls Collishaw had as a pilot, flight commander, and squadron leader. Understand the courage Collishaw and his fellow flyers faced every day they took to the air in their small, light, and very manoeuvrable craft to face the enemy.As the third-h...

In mid-1943 James Megellas, known as “Maggie” to his fellow paratroopers, joined the 82d Airborne Division, his new “home” for the duration. His first taste of combat was in the rugged mountains outside Naples.In October 1943, when most of the 82d departed Italy to prepare for the D-Day invasion of France, Lt. Gen. Mark Clark, the Fifth Army commander, requested that the division’s 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Maggie’s outfit, stay behind for a daring new operation that would...